


After the battle, the heartache

by RavenJoker



Category: Marvel's Runaways - Fandom, Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Multi, Nico needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 07:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17361575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenJoker/pseuds/RavenJoker
Summary: Following the end of season two of Marvel's Runaways: Tina Minoru, Victor Stein and Stacey Yorkes are hosts for the alien magistrate and his family. Victor has captured Karolina, Dale has Gertrude and Old Lace in his possession, planning to get away from the city until things are cleared up. The remaining Runaways, Leslie and Xavin must find the missing teens, find the missing teens, discover the aliens' plot and put an end to them. It will not be easy, as troubles lurk across the surface.





	After the battle, the heartache

She didn’t have to be a seer to know that there was something going on between them, Leslie was a keen observer, and if not that, she was a mother. The despair radiating off Nico at the thought of having lost her daughter. It was obvious that Nico loved Karolina, and that they were more than friends. Her heart went out to the girl, she knew how Nico felt, as she was experiencing a plethora of feelings at that same moment. Leslie walked down the remaining stairs, “Nico, what happened?”

The girl’s eyes focused on hers, those brown eyes that spoke several volumes of hurt. Yet Nico did not speak, Molly moved to her side and put her hand on Nico’s arm. Alex answered her question, “We met with Chase where we had agreed. After he left, some drones appeared and started shooting at us with darts. I think those drones were designed specifically to be used on us.”

“Yeah, they had a thing that blocked the fistigons, a shield for Karolina’s powers and they did something to Nico, she couldn’t even speak correctly.” Molly added, her hand still on Nico’s arm, as if providing comfort.

Leslie’s eyes travelled towards Nico once more, almost willing the girl to tell her what happened. “We, um, we got separated. Karolina and I ended up together. We went into a cave of some sorts and a drone appeared out of nowhere, it tried shooting at us, but it didn’t have any darts left.” Nico’s voice broke off, as she stopped talking. A pregnant silence filled the room. She continued, “Karolina suggested we split up, saying that we would meet up here in one hour. She ran and the drone followed… We lost Karolina, we lost Gert, we don’t know where Old Lace is, we can’t do this. We can’t fight this one.”

Molly’s eyes turned bewildered at Nico’s surrender, “No, we can’t just give up, Nico! We fought with out parents, we survived a glowy evil alien, we fought against a group of armed men, we survived a cave-in, we can do this.”

Nico turned her emotionless eyes at the young girl, “You don’t get it, do you? If we had a chance against our parents the first time, it was because Karolina took them on while we ran. If we survived a cave-in, it was because _she_ flew you out of there, if we survived Jonah it was because of _her_. We can’t do this without her!”

Leslie took this chance to step in, she placed her hand atop Nico’s small shoulder, such shoulders that carried great burdens, “You are Tina’s daughter, and if there is one thing you got from your mother, is her perseverance. If I remember correctly, you came out of that hole all on your own, and you took care of Jonah even if for a small while. I see why Karolina would fall for you.” At this confession, Nico’s eyes widened comically but then the emotions swirling in her brown orbs turned darker, “All I got my from my mother is the killer instinct, I killed Jonah, I killed AWOL and his team, and for all I know I could have killed my own parents.”

Leslie blinked once, baffled: “You what?”

Nico faltered in her place, she shook Molly’s and Leslie’s hands, “I need to be on my own for a while.” Her legs felt like jelly as she walked up the treacherous stairs.

Alex looked at Leslie and explained, “The Staff is doing something to Nico, we don’t know exactly what is going on. When AWOL and his brutes came, Nico used a spell to camouflage the Hostel—” and he was interrupted by Molly: “It was like she was hurting, she was in pain. And when she put metal barriers on all the entrances, AWOL’s men started hitting at the door with something, and that hurt her, too.” Leslie’s face showed worry and alarm, “On all the years I've watched Tina use the Staff, it’s never done anything of the sort to her.” 

Alex then continued, his tone showed agitation, “She passed out on us, and AWOL and his team cornered us in a room. She had her eyes closed, but it’s like she flew into a standing position, and the Staff flew to her hand. The space around her eyes looked cracked purple. She yelled ‘ _get out_ ’ and AWOL and his men disappeared. All that was left behind where their clothes and weapons. Then it was like she passed out again, she couldn’t remember exactly what happened.”

“She said that everything was fuzzy and she was real tired. I carried her to her room and Karolina said that she slept that whole afternoon, night, and until midday. And that is _way_ strange, because Nico is usually the last one up and the first one to be awake.”

Xavin’s voice broke through the silence, “I feel that your friend is troubled, I may have heard about that happening to someone else.” 

Alex fixed his glasses and stared the alien up, “What do you know about Nico, and who are you to tell us that se is troubled? Weren’t you supposed to be there to save Karolina? You just proved that you couldn’t even _do_ that.”

“I apologize, but the magistrate had a device that contained my and my betrothed’s energy. I could do nothing to help her. I was incapacitated.”

Molly interrupted, “What do you know?” She asked.

Xavin trained their eyes at Molly, “I have heard of that happening to many dark witches and wizards. Their eyes turn that way when they borrow energy from the Lord of Chaos in the Dark Dimension. I do not know much more, and I fail to have any knowledge on how that affects your friend and the Staff of One.”

“The Lord of Chaos?” Asked Leslie, and Xavin nodded, “Yes, he goes by the name Dormammu. I could help if you showed me how I should look for him.”

Alex nodded and said: “Come with me, and I’ll show you in a minute.”

“What did you mean? What device?” Asked Leslie. Was it possible that the others had actually created weapons for their kids? This had to be Tina and Victor’s doing, she didn’t think that Janet, Catherine, Geoffrey and Robert would go with this. Then again, Chase was with his parents, and the rest just wanted their kids back. Having her daughter come to her rescue was a blessing, that meant that Karolina cared enough about her to break her out of the Gibborim compound. Oh, her sweet daughter, trapped once more by Jonah’s evil hand. A thunderous thud was heard upstairs, all of their heads turned in that direction. It could only be one thing — Nico. Leslie saw Molly start moving in that direction, but she stepped in front of the girl and said: “Let me.” And with that, the heavily pregnant woman started making her way upstairs towards a girl whose heart was most likely shattered.

Silence greeted her when she reached the top of the landing, ‘Poor girl,’ she thought, ‘knowing that Jonah murdered Amy, having to kill him…’ Leslie had known at that moment, the various troubling emotions Nico would feel, as they had one been their own, when she had willingly taken the Hernandez’s lives on Jonah's command. The uncertainty, the anger, sadness, _disgust —_ but Nico was a teenager, she had her whole life ahead of her, she wasn’t tainted like Leslie was, she didn’t want that for Nico, just as she would not have wanted that for her daughter.

A _clank_ was heard from one of the rooms and the woman followed it to a specific room; knocking twice on the door, “Nico? Can I come in?” Silence. Not one word uttered, not a single whisper muttered. The blue-eyed woman took this as a sign to enter the room, the door creaked as she gently pushed on the knob. The room was dark, but she could make out the silhouette of a person seated at the edge of a bed, “Nico?”

Leslie walked the last few steps and noiselessly sat down next to the conflicted teenager, leaving enough space between them should Nico not want her being so close. The girl seemed to be in a trance, her eyes looking at something on the floor and when Leslie followed her line of sight, she saw her staff on the floor, 'Nico must have dropped it…’

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked, hoping to get some reaction out of the girl. When she received none, Leslie knew that the Minoru girl had retreated into her mind. She assessed the situation and inched closer to Nico, slowly and carefully she put her arms around her and brought the teen as close to her body as her large stomach would allow her. One Nico’s head rested on Leslie’s shoulder, the tears started to make their way through her eyes. Salty droplets cascading from the corners of her eyes, traveling down until they reached her chin; her small frame shaking with silent sobs. “It’s going to be okay, Nico. We’ll find her.” She tried to reassure her, but she didn’t think that Nico was actually listening to any word she said, it was like she was not really there, perhaps confined in the dark parts of her mind.

Nico inhaled deeply, her lungs stretching at the expansion, her slightly red eyes dead set ahead of her. 

“I think it’d be better if we all rested for today.” Leslie watched her, as she small body stood from its hunched position to an erect one, stiff. She walked to the door, but before she could cross the threshold she said, “Thank you.” And with that, she left. Leslie sighed, but followed shortly after, she would see if there was anything she could do to aid in the searching for her daughter and Gert.


End file.
